In a production printing environment, the print service providers of mono-function printers and multi-function printers (hereinafter collectively referred to as printers or MFPs), which are also known as “PSP” or “users of the MFP” are always trying to increase printing efficiency in order to increase the profit margin. Increasing efficiency can be achieved in many areas of the print production process, for example, from digital front end solution (for example, a web-based digital store) through complete enterprise solutions (MIS) that provide end-to-end solutions from initial order taking to final printing fulfillment and shipping.
In a mono-function or multi-function printer (MFP) machine, the print service providers (PSP) do not necessarily view the rated speed of the engine (pages per minute) to evaluate the overall performance of the engine. Instead, for example, PSPs can include other factors such as number of paper jams, time to clear jams, machine downtime waiting for parts, etc. All these events play a part in the total productivity of each MFP. For example, a PSP can have the following MFP configuration: speed of MFP=100 pages per minute; chargeable cost per page to customer=2 cents per page for black and white copies (and 20 cents per page for color prints); and chargeable cost in an 8-hour shift=$960 for black and white copies and $9,600 for color copies based on for example, 480 minutes per shift, 100 pages per minute, and 48,000 total pages per day.
For example, if an MFP is not used for 1 hour in a 24 hour day due to clearing paper jams, this can amount to approximately $60 for black and white printing and approximately $600 for color copies per day in lost revenue. Thus, the 100 pages per minute (ppm) MFP can effectively become an 87.5 ppm engine if one factors in downtime (i.e., 42,000 pages printed per day instead of 48,000). Accordingly, it would be desirable to ensure that the PSPs are capable of keeping the MFPs running at all times to minimize the amount of downtime, thus reducing the amount of lost revenue.
In addition, PSPs typically employ one machine operator to handle 2-3 MFPs concurrently. The job of the operator can be to clear paper jams, load paper, replace empty toner, etc. Based on the fact that PSPs assign more than one MFP per operator and the goal is to keep engines running 24 hours per day with minimal downtime, two MFP that are assigned to the same operator can be down at the same time. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the method and system as disclosed herein can provide a solution to this problem and other related problem associated with the production printing environment.